Last year, streaming music services like Pandora, Spotify, and Google Play increased market share by an astounding 42%. At the same time, digital download sales dropped 13 %.

That was good news and bad news for songwriters.

The good news is that streaming services reduce piracy of songs. A Swedish music-business study showed that over half the people who previously downloaded music illegally no longer did so after being given access to a streaming music service. The bad news is that streaming payments per play are miniscule—as Cracker’s David Lowery demonstrated when he posted a royalty statement showing a $16.89 payment from Pandora for over one million plays of his song “Low.”

With streaming on the ascendance and album sales at their lowest numbers since Soundscan began reporting sales in 1991, the copyright value of a song seems to have diminished substantially.

Was David Bowie right when he proclaimed in 2002, “copyright will no longer exist in 10 years”? With less money to be made, is copyright even relevant for songwriters?

The answer is yes. Even with diminished revenues, song copyrights still have a pulse—and it’s a strong one.

For songwriters, the idea of collaborating may be off-putting. That was certainly how I used to feel. The creative process is so personal; how could you share it? And why would you?

But then I moved to Nashville, Tennessee, the co-writing capital of the world. And as I wrote more and more songs, I ceased to think of them each as precious and untouchable.

The truth is that songwriting collaboration can make your work better: It can increase your creative output, expose you to new forms of songwriting, and let you share the burden of creating and promoting your songs.

But there are some rules …

Whether it’s your first co-write or your hundredth, follow these six tips to make it go as smoothly as possible.

Whether you’re brand new to songwriting or have been at it for decades, like I have, there are certain things that are universally true. Like this: At various times, songwriting is going to feel like a struggle. You can get lots of tips on making it in the music business from my new lynda.com course Write, Think, and Act Like a Professional Songwriter. But here are a few tips for songwriters to make the process feel like less of a burden:

We’re proud to introduce a new four-part interview series offering a look inside the music industry through the insights and stories of four of its rule-breakers.

Watch as music producer Bobby Owsinski interviews iconic industry personalities Al Schmitt, Richard Gibbs, Hanson Hsu, and Michael Beinhorn—all of whom have an uncanny capacity for adaptation, reinvention, and making their own luck.

Love it or hate it, Auto-Tune (and pitch correction tools like it) have solidified themselves as a fundamental part of 21st-century music production.

With the recent release of Auto-Tune 8 and the 57th annual GRAMMY Awards both upon us, it’s a great time to discuss a few misconceptions surrounding tuning software and its role in modern music production—as well as offer up some of my best practices as a professional using these tools daily.

Logic Pro X 10.1 may be just an incremental upgrade for Apple’s flagship digital audio workstation, but underneath the hood it feels like a full release in itself.

Apple claims the Logic Pro X 10.1 update is focused on EDM (electronic dance music) and hip-hop productions, but the new beat-generation tools, updated sounds and instruments, and streamlined editing features have something to offer no matter what type of music you’re making.